Click on the first photo in each group and scroll to see the square photos at full size.
<To start at the beginning of this series, visit Dodging the Deep Freeze 2020.

They Don’t Call it the Sunshine State for Nothing

We continue our nine-week road trip in Panama City Beach. The cold temps and snowfalls at home haven’t even come close to last year’s at this time, but we sure have enjoyed Florida’s sunshine – something that’s usually pretty elusive during the winter months at home. We’ve had to don our stashed winter coats more than once, but there’s something about the sunshine, white sands, and blue water that makes our winter attire more tolerable.

We’ve Got Company!

We made arrangements with my cousin from New Orleans to join us for the weekend. I referred to Darlene in The Emerald Coast because of her knowledge of gators. She made the trip here rather than meet us somewhere halfway because we had a spare bedroom for a more extended stay, and she had never been to Panama City Beach. Since we were new here too, we thought we’d check out St. Andrews tomorrow, which was only about half an hour away.

After catching up for several hours, Mike’s Cafe and Oyster Bar called our names. This establishment came with several recommendations and with its convenient location – kitty-corner from our condo – we were able to walk to great seafood! The place was packed – which was a good sign and large portions provided plenty of leftovers for another dinner.

The next morning started with two dolphins swimming west in front of our condo! Thank goodness we were looking out the patio door at just the right time. My only regret was that I didn’t have my camera at the ready for such an opportunity. We had talked to someone in the elevator a couple of days earlier who had seen dolphins pass by, but we weren’t having any luck seeing them ourselves – until today!

Historic St. Andrews

Our day trip to St. Andrews started with a waterfront farmers market and a walk around the historic town. It was a perfect day in between several not-so-perfect days, and it was fun to be out and about again, especially with my cousin.

We bought some items at the market, some trinkets at a few shops and had a great lunch at Thai Basil. If you love authentic Thai food, checking out the gallery on their website will make you really hungry. I ordered the Volcano Chicken, which was absolutely fantastic! After lunch, we settled our stomachs with a nice walk through “Oaks by the Bay” park. We could have easily spent the afternoon here rather than the short time we had allotted.

Panama City Publishing Co.

A free guided walking tour of Historic St. Andrew starts at the Panama City Publishing Co. Museum on Wednesdays and Fridays at 1pm, and a self-guided audio tour is available on the “Florida Stories” app. Since we prefer a living, breathing tour guide, we are waiting until our next visit to check out the tour.

The museum housed Panama City’s first newspaper in 1920 and was high on our list of things to do today, until we discovered it was closed for renovation. The building is chock-full of photos, newspapers, original printing presses and office furnishings which were still in use in 2005. In October of that year the city purchased the building, and over the next few years they restored it and opened it as a museum.

Gator Lake

Our next stop was the fabulous St. Andrews State Park. The $8 fee/car was totally worth the great afternoon we spent here. We got started at Gator Lake, which we met with great anticipation. Surely we would see some gators here! This is where my cousin dashed my hopes with her facts about gators not being active in temperatures below 70. Oh man! They should put an asterisk on the sign below stating this, so us Yankees would know not to expect much here during this time of year!

It was a nice little lake and people came and went – all wondering where all the gators were holed up. Then we noticed the small island in the center of the lake was teeming with long-legged birds! I was a little confused when we started seeing all of the herons. I know there’s another area in the park called Heron Pond, but the sign clearly says that this is Gator Lake. Oh well, I put on my zoom lens and got a closer look at all that was going on just across the lake. We took the trail for another vantage point to see the lake.

Building Project

This is where we realized there was a family project underway. Although we had no way of knowing, we assume the male was foraging for sticks down the path and returning to his mate. She would take the sticks and place them just so on a nest in progress – in the tree right above us! The rest of the path was closed due to nesting that was occurring all around the lake. Now that was exciting!

St. Andrews Bay

We made our way to where the park meets St. Andrews Bay and enjoyed the sparkle of the sun on the water. Folks were by the water (some in the water), but it was a little chilly for such activities today in my humble opinion. We enjoyed the beauty from afar, and a deer in the parking lot as we were leaving the area.

Amazing Beach Views!

We drove to another area with restrooms and a gift shop which lead out to this fabulous pier. To the right were great views of Panama City and to the left was more sparkling white sands and the fabulous waters of the gulf.

The man who was fishing at the end of the pier said that a shark had just made two swipes at his bait. We waited around for a third, but didn’t have any luck. It was fun though, thinking about him hauling in a shark. There are restrictions on what kind of shark would have to be returned to the water and not ended up as dinner. He never really got a good look at the beast, so unless he caught it after we left, he would never know.

A Plan and a Goodbye

We have the tour of the publishing museum, a walking tour (with a guide) of the town, and another lunch at Thai Basil on our list of things to do on our next visit to St. Andrews. I can hardly wait!

After an awesome day, we enjoyed the Fish & Chips special at Temperley’s British Eatery for $10 which was absolutely delicious! After a nice long walk on the beach the next morning, we said goodbye to Darlene, until our visit to New Orleans next year.

Next up: Farewell PCB

Happy trails,
Barb